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Thursday, August 05, 2004
Indiana Law - Making it harder to bail out in Delaware County
The Muncie Star-Press has a story today, headlined "New system could lead to longer jail stays," that reports that "under a new rule that is expected to be enacted in the local court system," defendants will have to wait to appear before a judge before bonding out of jail. Some quotes:
Judges argue the new rule would only impact a small handful of defendants and it would prohibit repeat offenders from bonding out of jail and committing new crimes within hours of their release.If this sounds familar, the Indiana Law Blog had a very brief entry June 28th reporting that Vanderburgh County had adopted a similar change.So far, the rule has support from at least three of the county's five circuit court judges, and it is expected to be enacted in the next few months once it is signed by all of them, said Circuit Court 1 Judge Marianne Vorhees, the county's presiding judge.
"We are not saying they are not going to get a bond," Vorhees said. "They are just not going to get bond until they see a judge. This gives us more time to look at these serious offenders and it gives the victims time to get a protective order and take care of whatever they need to protect themselves."
Under the current system, Delaware County jail employees automatically assign a bond based on the class of the crime. A person arrested for a class A felony - which carries a possible 50-year prison term upon conviction - is assigned a $30,000 bond, and usually has to pay 10 percent of that figure to a bondsman to secure their release.
But under the new rule, everyone arrested on class A and B felonies - and some class C felonies * * * would not automatically be assigned a bond. Instead they will have to wait until they see a judge. * * *
Local defense attorney Michael J. (Mick) Alexander said he was concerned that the new rule would give police officers too much power. Alexander - a former prosecutor and police officer - said that officers frequently arrest people on preliminary charges that are far more serious than the formal charges eventually filed by the prosecutor's office. The new rule could allow police to keep a suspect in jail without bond for an extended period, he suggested.
"What we are doing here is letting police officers decide who doesn't get bond and that is not proper," Alexander said. "The people who are going to get hampered by this are the poor people that don't have a lot of money right away to afford an attorney. It sounds good to the general public, but incidentally, it's not going to work."
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 5, 2004 09:54 AM
Posted to Indiana Law